Whoops, well, good point Joe. What I meant was that they have an established fan base who will go see it no matter what, sort-of-but-not-really like the Haruhists' masochistic relationship with Kadokawa. In other words, the fans who care enough to bitch about the changes don't matter, what matters is if it can be made into a good (profitable) movie if you ignore adaptation decay.

Jed wrote:hear, hear. My sentiment exactly. If the actors are good enough to put on a convincing performance, they don't need to look anything like their characters for you to be convinced that they are who they're supposed to be.

Except that the casting call specified white actors for the roles of Asian characters. The casting call for the main characters said, explicitly "Whites, or other races." In other words, we would prefer whites, but we guess other people can apply too. The language was loaded from the beginning to give preferential treatment to whites (while, incidentally, the initial casting call for the extras specified "Asians in traditional ethnic garb.") Responding to pressure, they recast ONLY THE VILLAIN of the first movie as Asian, but the WRONG kind of Asian. Does no one else find this offensive? And then the only Asian main character turns his back on his people to join the (now exclusively white) heroes after being shown the error of his ways.

Seriously. I am not pissed about this shit because of adaptation decay. I couldn't care less about how much the movie is like the show. When I'm 85 years old, none of that will matter. What WILL matter is that there is an industry in our country that can still get away with giving lower-paying, subpar jobs to talented people for NO REASON except the color of their skin or the slant of their eyes. One of the major reason Shyamalan became interested in the project in the FIRST place was because his daughter was happy to see a heroine who looked like her, and who was NORMALIZED; not specifically cast as the other or as a token. As the Angry Asian Man brilliantly puts in in his blog, "Besides, it's not like Asians are lacking opportunities in Hollywood. It's not like we want those leading roles, right? There will always be work playing Chinese delivery boys, liquor store clerks, nail salon workers and Asian gangster thugs number 1 through 6. Thanks again, Hollywood!" Another blogger frames the reason WHY Avatar is such a great example of normalizing other cultures here:http://theangryblackwoman.com/2008/12/10/m-night-say-it-isnt-so/

You would think Shyamalan, as an Asian-American, would understand this issue. But no. I guess not.

I know that this has nothing to do with what Meg just said, but I feel the need to say it.

Wrong Sub-forum.

"I love it when Masaaki Endoh shouts things. Attack names in particular, but he could shout just about anything and I'd be happy. When my mother passes, I want Endoh to deliver the news, so instead of getting sad I get really pumped about it."

Secretary Of Pocky! wrote:I know that this has nothing to do with what Meg just said, but I feel the need to say it.

Wrong Sub-forum.

Except Avatar totally gets fanbased in as anime, Joe. (Yes, I just used "fan base" as a verb... deal with it...)

Jed wrote:This is the first I've heard of any of this. In light of this, all the griping about the casting makes a little more sense.

Agreed. I thought the whole problem was that the actors didn't look enough like the characters, which never mattered to me so much as does the preservation of the story in the film.

It is, however, incredibly stupid that they'd look for white actors specifically. I mean, I don't care if they happened to like a series of white actors the best (after all, the looks aren't that different), but if they gave an unfair advantage to white actors over Asian actors for roles of Asian (well... pseudo-Asian) characters, then it's just stupid.

That said, and perhaps it makes me overly-apathetic, I doubt this will affect my assessment and enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the movie.

Secretary Of Pocky! wrote:I know that this has nothing to do with what Meg just said, but I feel the need to say it.

Wrong Sub-forum.

Except Avatar totally gets fanbased in as anime, Joe. (Yes, I just used "fan base" as a verb... deal with it...)

I know. That doesn't mean I think that's right. At all.

SoxMike wrote:

Jed wrote:This is the first I've heard of any of this. In light of this, all the griping about the casting makes a little more sense.

Agreed. I thought the whole problem was that the actors didn't look enough like the characters, which never mattered to me so much as does the preservation of the story in the film.

It is, however, incredibly stupid that they'd look for white actors specifically. I mean, I don't care if they happened to like a series of white actors the best (after all, the looks aren't that different), but if they gave an unfair advantage to white actors over Asian actors for roles of Asian (well... pseudo-Asian) characters, then it's just stupid.

That said, and perhaps it makes me overly-apathetic, I doubt this will affect my assessment and enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the movie.

"I love it when Masaaki Endoh shouts things. Attack names in particular, but he could shout just about anything and I'd be happy. When my mother passes, I want Endoh to deliver the news, so instead of getting sad I get really pumped about it."

The sad part was, even though I knew who it was, my first thought was "Wait, it that Elijah Wood with a dragon ball?"

"I love it when Masaaki Endoh shouts things. Attack names in particular, but he could shout just about anything and I'd be happy. When my mother passes, I want Endoh to deliver the news, so instead of getting sad I get really pumped about it."